Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the UK's ability to form a fully operational Carrier Strike Group; and how often that Group could be deployed globally.

The UK remains robust in its ability to form a fully operational Carrier Strike Group (CSG). This has been evidenced in 2024 by the UK CSG involvement in Exercise STRIKE WARRIOR and participation in the NATO Exercise STEADFAST DEFENDER. This will be further evidenced by the upcoming deployment of the CSG in 2025 to the Indo-Pacific.

One Queen Elizabeth Aircraft Carrier and all supporting units are always available at the required notice to deploy globally whenever there is an operational need. The appropriate force generation, training, integration, maintenance, assurance and currency of these units is a continuous process to ensure their availability for deployment.